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confidence interval nearly reached 90% of the standard). In 2000 when the two- <br />• year old (then) 1998 reclamation was sampled, the allowable cover was 20% and <br />90% of the standard was 24.4%. Hence a situation in which the allowable cover <br />of two-year old reclamation does not reach 90% of the Phase III standard is not <br />necessarily indicative of a problem. <br />Inasmuch as the 1998 reclaimed areas at the Seneca IIW Mine were also <br />sampled in 2000, a year that was much below average in moisture, it is <br />interesting to observe the changes in cover values between 2000 and 2005 (see <br />ESCO 2001}. Total vegetation cover had decreased substantially between the <br />two years (44.1 % to 32.9%). Cover by native perennial cool season grasses <br />declined from 12.9% to 9.2%. One of the desired outcomes in the younger <br />revegetation is for the cover by grasses to be more "restrained." In the presence <br />of more restrained grass exuberance in the 1998 reclamation, the development <br />of native perennial forts has moved up from 1.7% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2005. <br />Development of introduced perennial forts cover has also been restrained with <br />. alfalfa in 2005 comprising only 1.5% cover, a level congruent with its proportion <br />in the original seed mix. Cover by annual I'rfeforms declined from 28.5% in 2000 <br />to 9.3% in 2005. <br />2003 reclamation at the Seneca IIW. Mine was as not as heavily beset with <br />annual plants as might be expected fortwo-year old sites. The development of <br />native perennial forts diversity was off to a good start with a total of 25 species <br />found in the fifteen samples. It is interesting and alarming to find that this two- <br />yearold area is the location of occurrence of nine introduced perennial grasses, <br />only one of which (orchardgrass} was included in the seed mix and no more than <br />a few of which could be expected to have occurred at all in the pre-mining <br />vegetation prior to topsoil stripping. <br />Herbaceous Production <br />Observed production values and derivation of the 2005 herbaceous production <br />• standard are compiled /documented in the table below: <br />14 <br />